This story contains discussions about sexual assault. If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit rainn.org for support online.
Netflix has become known for its hard-hitting documentaries, and Tell Them You Love Me is the latest addition to their growing library. The new film explores the true story of Anna Stubblefield, a white ethics professor who was convicted of criminal sexual contact involving Derrick Johnson, a non-verbal disabled Black man living with cerebral palsy, according to news reports.
The documentary hails from director Nick August-Perna and producer Louis Theroux, who was also behind the streamer’s true crime series Can I Tell You a Secret? Here’s what you need to know about the shocking case detailed in Tell Them You Love Me, including where Anna Stubblefield and Derrick Johnson are now.
What is Tell Them You Love Me About?
Tell Them You Love Me examines an exceedingly complicated case involving a grievous abuse of power. The film attempts to explain how a sexually abusive relationship developed between former Rutgers University professor Anna Stubblefield and Derrick Johnson, a disabled, non-verbal Black man, who was 11 years her junior and living with cerebral palsy.
Stubblefield was a married mother of two when she started working with Derrick, referred to as D.J. The former professor was introduced to Derrick by his brother John, who had taken classes with Stubblefield while attending Rutgers University, The Standard reports. Stubblefield had an interest in “facilitated communication,” a much-maligned way of allegedly allowing non-verbal people to communicate using a keyboard and the guided hand of a facilitator. Knowing of Stubblefield’s expertise, John asked if she’d be able to try working with his brother Derrick, whom he believed was trying to communicate, according to The Standard.
Over the course of two years, Stubblefield conducted many “facilitated communication” sessions with Derrick, with seemingly impressive results, The Standard reported. However, in 2011, Stubblefield revealed that she had entered into a consensual sexual relationship with Derrick, according to The New York Times. As recounted by Stubblefield in Tell Them You Love Me, Derrick reportedly used “facilitated conversation” to tell his mother and brother, “No one’s been taken advantage of. I’ve been trying to seduce Anna for years, and she resisted valiantly.” Derrick’s family members asked Stubblefield to leave Derrick alone, and when she refused, they complained to Rutgers University, and details were passed on to the police, The New York Times reported.
Was Derrick Johnson able to communicate using “facilitated conversation”?
At the core of Tell Them You Love Me is the question of whether Derrick was actually able to communicate using this method. While Stubblefield has maintained that she didn’t influence Derrick’s words whatsoever, the scientific community has long dismissed “facilitated conversation” as a harmful pseudoscience. As reported by The Cut, “It produces a ‘Ouija board effect’ in which the facilitator, not the disabled person, unwittingly (in most cases) produces the messages in question. In some cases, these messages have included shocking allegations of sexual abuse, leading to false charges being pressed against caretakers.”
The reason Stubblefield’s original 2015 conviction was overturned was because experts speaking on “facilitated conversation” were banned from testifying in front of the jury. One such expert, Dr. Rosemary Crossley, evaluated Derrick, who “was said to have independently correctly answered 43 of 45 scored questions, most of which required literacy skills,” Inside Higher Ed reported. As noted in Tell Them You Love Me, a college student who had worked with Derrick, who claimed he was able to independently communicate, was also barred from testifying.
With so many conflicting opinions regarding whether Derrick was able to communicate via “facilitated conversation,” the documentary’s director is leaving it up to viewers to decide. “In a way I think that is the question of the film and I don’t actually have a straightforward answer,” August-Perna told Deadline. “I think his voice is kind of at the intersection of himself, of course, of Anna, and of this third character, which is this machine—the Neo [keyboard].”
What happened after the alleged relationship was revealed?
In October 2015, Stubblefield was found guilty on two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, The New York Times reported. Stubblefield was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but in 2017, her conviction was overturned by an appellate court that decided she hadn’t received a fair trial, according to NJ.com.
To avoid a second trial, Stubblefield agreed to plead “guilty to third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact as part of an agreement under which the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office will recommend a four-year prison sentence,” NJ.com reported in March 2018. Despite having only served fewer than two years of her original sentence, the former professor was sentenced to time served in May 2018.
At the heart of the matter remains much uncertainty, particularly when it comes to knowing whether Derrick can consent or not. “There is a kind of order of facts that happened in this case and from Anna’s point of view, it’s a kind of Romeo and Juliet story of forbidden romance, and from the Johnsons’ point of view, it’s the story of abuse,” producer Arron Fellows told Deadline. “But Derek’s experience of what happened is something that we aren’t quite sure of.”
It’s also worth noting that during Stubblefield’s original trial, Dr. Paul Fulford evaluated Derrick’s mental capacity, and concluded, “My final opinion, essentially the bottom line, was that he was not competent to give consent to sexual activity,” NJ.com reported.
What has Derrick Johnson’s family said about the case?
Derrick’s mother, Daisy Johnson, raised the two brothers as a single parent, and provided constant care when Derrick became disabled, she explained in Tell Them You Love Me. Also in the documentary, Derrick’s brother John Johnson discussed the extent of his sibling’s disability, saying Derrick visited a few psychologists who deemed him non-verbal, with cerebral palsy. He described Derrick as a generally happy person who enjoyed music, dancing, and hugs, having watched his younger brother’s personality develop from a young age. He also noted witnessing Derrick’s frustration, sometimes resulting in self-harm and physical violence, which he assumed was in response to his brother being unable to communicate effectively.
Derrick’s family has maintained that he was a victim of Stubblefield’s, whom the Johnsons filed a civil suit against, which they won. In October 2016, Derrick’s legal guardians, brother John and mother Daisy, were awarded “$2 million in compensatory damages, including attorneys fees, and another $2 million in punitive damages,” NJ.com reported.
When Stubblefield was sentenced following her plea deal in May 2018, Derrick’s brother John told the judge, “Anna Stubblefield took advantage of [D.J.’s] vulnerability ... Indeed the thing that she was supposedly saving him from was the very thing she needed to get away with her crime: [D.J.’s] silence.”
Where is Anna Stubblefield now?
Despite pleading guilty to third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact in March 2018, Stubblefield has maintained that she did nothing wrong in her relationship with Derrick. “I believed that he and I were intellectual equals, and that our romantic relationship was consensual,” she explained in a letter sent from prison, which was published by Slate. “I intended no harm, and I had nothing to gain.”
The former ethics professor also suggested she had planned a new life with Derrick, and that she would have navigated the situation differently a second time around. “Had we anticipated his family’s reaction, we would have waited,” Stubblefield wrote from prison, The New York Times reported. “He would have talked with his family and pursued emancipation from the guardianship, and I would have used the time to obtain a divorce.”
In Tell Them You Love Me, Stubblefield doubled down on her stance, saying, “I don’t mind people knowing because I’m not guilty of a crime.” However, Stubblefield is now a registered sex offender under Megan’s Law, and will be under parole supervision for the rest of her life, NJ.com reported. Additionally, she is not allowed to speak to Derrick or contact his family ever again.
